SOURCE: "Not for the Old Lady in Dubuque," in The University of Denver Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 2, Summer, 1973, pp. 65-83.

Weales is an American novelist, critic, and educator. In the following excerpt, he provides an overview of the humorous writings that appeared during the early years of the New Yorker.

In imitation of the successful New Yorker, local magazines addressed to the sophisticates of both sexes sprang up in major cities across the United States.

The New Yorker's Imitators:

In imitation of the successful New Yorker, local magazines addressed to the sophisticates of both sexes sprang up in major cities across the United States.

The local magazine of gossip and chitchat for socialites was nothing new. Colonel William Mann founded Town Topics for New York society before the turn of the century, for instance, and it lasted until 1932, when it collapsed after the attorney general of New York accused...